Containers

ABSTRACT

A bag, particularly for coins, is made from heat-sealable film material and has a pouch adjacent to the open end of the bag and extending across the front of the bag with the mouth of the pouch directed towards the bottom of the bag. The novel feature is the provision of a free flap which extends from the back of the bag and which has a length such that the bag can be closed by folding the flap over the pouch and pushing it indiscriminately without flattening into the pouch so that the bulk of the flap, together with the contents of the bag, retains the bag in the closed condition.

United States Patent m1 Rayner et al.

l 1March 13, 1973 CONTAINERS inventors: Adrien Patrick Rayner, Alperton,

England; Bryan Gordon Howell, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada The Metal Box Company Limited, London, England Filed: July 21, 1970 Appl. No.: 56,855

Great Britain ..36,957/69 US. Cl. ..229/62, 150/7, 206/.85 Int. Cl. ..B6Sd 33/16, B65d 77/10 Field of Search ..229/62, 52 B, 69, 76; 150/7,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1876 Chapman ..229 76x 6/1923 Parks ..229 76 ux Yam Yee .,229/76 3,220,637 11 1965 2,922,568 1/1960 Harker 2,709,467 5 1955 Hoeppner .150 3,217,934 11/1965 Schneider et a1. ..229/62 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,067,391 5 1967 Great Britain ..229 62 Primary ExaminerDavis T. Moorhead AttorneySnyder and Butrum [57] ABSTRACT A bag, particularly for coins, is made from heat-sealable film material and has a pouch adjacent to the open end of the bag and extending across the front of the bag with the mouth of the pouch directed towards the bottom of the bag. The novel feature is the provision of a free flap which extends from the back of the bag and which has a length such that the bag can be closed by folding the flap over the pouch and pushing it indiscriminately without flattening into the pouch so that the bulk of the flap, together with the contents of the bag, retains the bag in the closed condition. I

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEUHARI 31% v 720, 367

sum 2 or 2 CONTAINERS BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to containers in the form of bags made from heat-scalable film material.

2.Description of the Prior Art Bags are known which have a pouch extending across the front of the bag with the open end of the pouch directed towards the bottom of the bag and some such bags are provided with a rudimentary flap or lip which extends the back for a short distance for the purpose of assisting the loading of articles into the bag. This flap or lip does not and cannot play a part in closing the bag.

Bags of the known kind when used to contain coins do not invariably hold the coins satisfactorily and sometimes, particularly with rough handling, coins spill out of the bags. It is a main object of the invention to provide a bag capable of remaining closed, and so retaining its contents, even if it is subjected to rough handling.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a flat sheet of heat-sealable material from which the bag is to be fonned,

FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates a stage in the manufacture of the bag,

FIG. 3is a front view of the finished bag,

FIG. 4 is a section, to an enlarged scale, on line IV- 'IV, FIG. 3, showing the bag in a partly open condition,

and

FIG. 5 is a section illustrating the manner of closing the bag.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, the bag is made from the elongate rectangular sheet of heat-scalable film material, for example polyethylene, and is formed by folding the sheet along firstand second fold lines l0, 11 substantially at right angles to the length of the sheet. The second fold line 11 is nearer to one end 12 of the sheet than is the first fold line and the distance X between the fold lines 10 and I1 is less than the distance Y between the first fold line 10 and the opposite end 13 of the sheet. The first fold line 10 fonns the bottom ,of the bag and the second fold line 11 defines a pouch-forming flap 14 During folding of the sheet, FIG. 2, the portion of the sheet which is to include the second fold line 11 is folded about the first fold line 10 to overlie the portion 15 of the sheet, which forms the backof the bag, and the pouch forming flap 14 is folded about'the second fold line 11 to overlie the portion 16 between the first and second fold lines l0, l1 and which forms the front of the bag. Following these folding operations the overlying longitudinal edge portionsl7, FIG. 3, are sealed one to the other by heat-sealing. This results in the formation of the bag as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and which has an open end 18, FIG. 4, and a pouch which extends across the front 16 of the bag with the mouth 19 of the pouch directed towards the bottom 10 of the bag. The back 15 of the bag extends beyond the open end 18 of the bag and forms a free flap 20 having a length Z, FIG. 3, such that it can be folded over the pouch and pushed into the pouch.

Following the insertion of the contents into the bag the bag is closed by pressing closed end 21 of the pouch to open the mouth 19 and the free flap 20 is then folded over the pouch, FIG. 5, and has its end portion 22 tucked into the pouch with deformation the edge portion 23 of the pouch. The end portion 22 of the flap 20 is tucked indiscriminately into the pouch without flattening and so is retained the bag closing position thereof. When, as intended, the bag is filled from the bottom to the open end thereof the pressure of the contents operates to ensure retention of the flap portion 22 in the pouch. The bag is particularly suitable for containing coins and it is found that when it is so dimensioned as to be full when containing a predetermined amount of coin, the possibility of the coins coming out of the closed bag, even if roughly handled, is negligible. In one bag of the kind shown in FIG. 3, designed to contain35 worth of silver, the width across the bag is 3% inches, dimension X is 4% inches, and dimension Y is 6% inches, the pouch-forming flap 14 being about 2 inches deep, the length Z of the free flap 20 about 2 inches, and the film material being 300 gauge high-slip polyethylene. Dimensions of bags for containing other quantities of coin, or for other purposes, in like manner can be readily determined by simple experiment.

We claim: 1. A bag of heat-sealable film material adapted to receive a quantity of coins totalling a selected sum which coins might spill therefrom particularly due to rough handling of the filled and closed bag, said bag comprising: I front and back panels joined along a fold defining the bottom of the bag, and having heat seals joining the panels along opposite side edges thereof upwardly from said fold and terminating in spaced relation thereto to define the mouth of the bag in which the depth of the bag from its mouth to its bottom is greater than that required to accommodate said quantity of coins whereby when the bag is filled portions of said front and back panels are exposed above the coins; said back panel having an integral top flap extending upwardly from said mouth and of a width corresponding to the width of said back and front panels;

said front panel having a pouch flap integrally joined therewith along a fold at said mouth parallel to the first mentioned fold and having heat seals joining said pouch flap and said front panel along opposite sides thereof downwardly from said mouth of the bag to the end of said pouch flap to define a pouch mouth thereat; and

folding over said exposed portions of the front and back panels whereby to retain said top flap in bag closing condition.

2. A bag according to claim 1 wherein said top flap 5 and said pouch flap are of substantially equal lengths.

t i i 

1. A bag of heat-sealable film material adapted to receive a quantity of coins totalling a selected sum which coins might spill therefrom particularly due to rough handling of the filled and closed bag, said bag comprising: front and back panels joined along a fold defining the bottom of the bag, and having heat seals joining the panels along opposite side edges thereof upwardly from said fold and terminating in spaced relation thereto to define the mouth of the bag in which the depth of the bag from its mouth to its bottom is greater than that required to accommodate said quantity of coins whereby when the bag is filled portions of said front and back panels are exposed above the coins; said back panel having an integral top flap extending upwardly from said mouth and of a width corresponding to the width of said back and front panels; said front panel having a pouch flap integrally joined therewith along a fold at said mouth parallel to the first mentioned fold and having heat seals joining said pouch flap and said front panel along opposite sides thereof downwardly from said mouth of the bag to the end of said pouch flap to define a pouch mouth thereat; and said pouch flap and said top flap being of a length to extend below the level of said quantity of coins, and said pouch flap being of relative lengths such that when the bag is filled with said quantity of coins said top flap may be tucked into said pouch mouth indiscriminately without flattening only by folding over said exposed portions of the front and back panels whereby to retain said top flap in bag closing condition.
 1. A bag of heat-sealable film material adapted to receive a quantity of coins totalling a selected sum which coins might spill therefrom particularly due to rough handling of the filled and closed bag, said bag comprising: front and back panels joined along a fold defining the bottom of the bag, and having heat seals joining the panels along opposite side edges thereof upwardly from said fold and terminating in spaced relation thereto to define the mouth of the bag in which the depth of the bag from its mouth to its bottom is greater than that required to accommodate said quantity of coins whereby when the bag is filled portions of said front and back panels are exposed above the coins; said back panel having an integral top flap extending upwardly from said mouth and of a width corresponding to the width of said back and front panels; said front panel having a pouch flap integrally joined therewith along a fold at said mouth parallel to the first mentioned fold and having heat seals joining said pouch flap and said front panel along opposite sides thereof downwardly from said mouth of the bag to the end of said pouch flap to define a pouch mouth thereat; and said pouch flap and said top flap being of a length to extend below the level of said quantity of coins, and said pouch flap being of relative lengths such that when the bag is filled with said quantity of coins said top flap may be tucked into said pouch mouth indiscriminately without flattening only by folding over said exposed portions of the front and back panels whereby to retain said top flap in bag closing condition. 